KVEA
KVEA, virtual channel 52 (UHF digital channel 25), is a Telemundo owned-and-operated television station serving Los Angeles, California, United States. Licensed to Corona, it is Telemundo's West Coast flagship station. KVEA is owned by the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations subsidiary of NBCUniversal (itself a subsidiary of Comcast), as part of a duopoly with Los Angeles-licensed NBC West Coast flagship KNBC (channel 4). The two stations share studios and offices on Lankershim Boulevard in Universal City; KVEA's transmitter is atop Mount Wilson. History KVEA first went on the air on June 29, 1966 as independent station KMTW-TV. The station was founded by Mount Wilson Broadcasting, which planned to expand into the television market. Mount Wilson Broadcasting sold the station's license to Kaiser Broadcasting (which owned UHF independents in several large media markets) before KMTW's debut. It was the third commercial UHF station in Los Angeles, after KIIX-TV (channel 22, now KWHY-TV) and KMEX-TV (channel 34). Kaiser changed channel 52's call letters to KBSC-TV, standing for "Kaiser Broadcasting Southern California" (the KMTW call sign is currently used by a MyNetworkTV affiliate in Wichita, Kansas). KBSC was never a serious competitor against established independents KTLA (channel 5), KHJ-TV (channel 9, now KCAL-TV), KTTV (channel 11) and KCOP (channel 13). Few television sets could receive UHF broadcasts at the time, and there was insufficient program inventory. The station operated on a half-day schedule, usually signing on in the early afternoon and signing off in the late evening. KBSC carried general entertainment: cartoons, short films, sitcoms and old movies. Weekday-afternoon programming was directed at children, with Japanese cartoons dubbed into English (including Speed Racer, Kimba the White Lion, Ultraman, Johnny Sokko and Gigantor) and compilations of comedy short subjects by the Three Stooges and the Little Rascals. KBSC also aired programs produced by other Kaiser stations, such as WKBD's Lou Gordon Program. Gordon's weekly show was broadcast at least twice a week (on Saturdays and Sundays) during the early 1970s. Programs rarely flowed smoothly from one to the next; most of the children's programming was punctuated by long breaks, consisting of a shot of the station's logo, call letters and city of license accompanied by Bert Kaempfert's "That Happy Feeling". The logo was a black "52" joined at the top within a white television screen, typical of Kaiser stations; the logo and song began its broadcast day. In 1976 Kaiser left broadcasting and sold its stations to its partner, Field Communications, except for KBSC and a minority stake in Cleveland station WUAB; the latter was sold by majority owner United Artists to Gaylord Broadcasting. KBSC, not included in the deal due to its low ratings and lack of growth potential in the Los Angeles market, was sold to Oak Communications. The station's general-entertainment format initially remained the same from its noon sign-on. By April 1977, KBSC's programming ran from 1:15 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. It then became the Los Angeles-area outlet of ONTV, which carried movies and live sports and whose programming aired after 8:00 p.m.-12:00 midnight on weekdays and 8:00 p.m.-2:00am on weekends. In 1978 KBSC changed to a 24-hour schedule, running ONTV from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. daily. From 6:00 a.m. to noon the station broadcast public affairs and religious programs, with general-entertainment programming initially retained from noon to the start of ONTV programming in the evening. In summer 1979, KBSC sold its entertainment-programming inventory to KTLA. The station broadcast religious programs from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. and ONTV after 6:00 p.m., with Spanish-language programming from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays and 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays. English-language religious programming was carried on Sundays from 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. In 1980 KBSC expanded its Spanish programming from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays and 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on weekends, with ONTV programming filling the rest of the day. In 1982, the station began carrying ONTV on a scrambled signal 24 hours a day. In September 1985 KBSC was sold to Miami-based NetSpan, which became Telemundo in 1987. It was the first mainland U.S. station owned by Telemundo at the network's beginning. ONTV was dropped, and the station's call letters were changed to KVEA; KBSC callsign was later used for low-powered station in Brookings, Oregon. The call letters represent the Spanish phrase Que vea, meaning "You should see". NBC purchased Telemundo in 2001, creating a triopoly with NBC-owned-and-operated KNBC and Spanish-language independent KWHY (channel 22; that station was later sold in 2011). Los Angeles and San Francisco are the only markets where a company can legally own three stations, due to Federal Communications Commission rules permitting ownership of more than two stations in markets with a minimum of 20 full-power television stations. KVEA's news, promotion and senior-management operations moved to NBC's Burbank studios. In spring 2014 the station's news department moved to Universal Studios Hollywood, where it shares a new broadcast facility with KNBC. Category:Telemundo affiliated stations Category:Channel 52 Category:1966 Category:Television channels and stations established in 1966 Category:Corona Category:Los Angeles Category:California Category:NBCUniversal Category:UHF Category:Former independent stations Category:Former ONTV affiliates Category:Former NetSpan affiliates Category:California Spanish Stations Category:Former NTA Film Network affiliates Category:1968 Category:1985